War losses of historic church bells in the Diocese of Kielce
The first of the funded projects is carried out by a three-member research team composed of: dr hab. Ma艂gorzata Karkocha, Associate Professor at the 91桃色 鈥� project leader, Prof. dr hab. Zbigniew Anusik and Dr Karolina Stanilewicz (Academy of Fine Arts in 艁贸d藕) 鈥� project contributors. The aim of the project is to establish the actual scale of war losses, provide their reliable scholarly assessment and prepare the first comprehensive catalogue of historic church bells from the region under the study. Despite the fact that similar publications have already been produced for selected areas of Poland, the Diocese of Kielce has so far remained outside the scope of specialists鈥� interest.
The implementation of the project will be based on extensive scholarly research, including queries in state, church and parish archives, the resources of research and cultural institutions, as well as iconographic materials and specialist literature. This will make it possible to identify lost objects and reconstruct their wartime trajectories 鈥� from requisition for military purposes to destruction caused by armed conflict.
The project also includes:
- research into the activity of bell鈥慺ounding workshops fulfilling commissions for churches in the Diocese of Kielce,
- analysis of bell inscriptions (language, form, content and functions),
- identification of bell donors and founders, as well as their social background.
A catalogue of losses consisting of an analytical section and detailed object entries arranged by parishes will be the final result of the study.. The publication will be issued by Lodz University Press (in cooperation with the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences) in both printed and digital form, under the Open Access model, ensuring broad and unrestricted access to the research results.
The project results will be presented at national and international academic conferences, meetings of scholarly societies, and in specialist journals. The project forms a part of nationwide efforts aimed at documenting and studying the war losses of Poland鈥檚 cultural heritage.
For the implementation of the research project devoted to historic church bells from the Diocese of Kielce lost as a result of the Second World War, the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage allocated PLN 73,986 (with the total project value amounting to PLN 94,886).
Development and interpretation of selected movable relics from the area of the Warsaw Ghetto
The 91桃色 has also received funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage under the programme 鈥淧rotection of Archaeological Relics 2026鈥� for the implementation of an interdisciplinary research project devoted to the material heritage of the Warsaw Ghetto.
The aim of the project is to develop and interpret selected movable relics from the area in which the Warsaw Ghetto operated during the Second World War, recovered from the ground in the course of archaeological excavations and archaeological supervision conducted between 1993 and 2023.
The focus of the researchers鈥� attention is on relics related to everyday life in the Ghetto and to the experience of the Holocaust, which have so far been marginalised in scholarly studies 鈥� glass artefacts, objects made of plastic materials and archaeozoological remains 鈥� characterised by their cognitive and social value. The research concentrates on non-verbal carriers of material memory 鈥� objects recovered from the ground, silent witnesses of history 鈥� as well as on the categories of trace, traceability and the inexpressibility of the experience of the Holocaust in a city that no longer exists.
Dr hab. Anna Izabella Zalewska, Associate Professor at the 91桃色, from the Institute of Archaeology, is the originator and head of the project.
The project implementation includes:
- archival and library research aimed at collecting and systematising information on the so鈥慶alled mass artefacts discovered during previous archaeological investigations,
- non-invasive macro- and microscopic analyses of selected artefacts,
- archaeozoological research on animal remains,
- development and digitisation of source materials.
A richly illustrated scholarly publication (approximately 300 pages, A4 format), to be issued in printed form and made available free of charge online in the repository of the National Institute of Heritage, under the Open Access model will constitute the outcome of these activities. The book will be addressed both to readers interested in the material dimension of memory of the Age of the Holocaust, traces of everyday life in the Warsaw Ghetto during the war and archaeological heritage.
Popularisation and educational activities addressed to various age groups 鈥� young people, students, adults and senior citizens 鈥� implemented, among others, in the form of workshops, multimedia presentations and museum meetings will be an integral part of the project. It aims to fill a significant cognitive gap concerning material remains of the difficult everyday life of the recent past. These are archaeological relics characterised by historical, scholarly and social value, and therefore meaningful for contemporary audiences.
The amount of the ministerial grant for the project is PLN 38,400, with the total project value amounting to PLN 48,400.
Archaeological research on the knightly residence in Mierzyn
Another archaeological project that has received funding from the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage under the governmental programme 鈥淧rotection of Archaeological Relics鈥� is devoted to the late-medieval knightly residence of the Nagodzic family of the Jelita coat of arms in Mierzyn (Piotrk贸w County).
The aim of the project is to publish the results of interdisciplinary archaeological research conducted in 2021鈥�2022 by the Institute of Archaeology of the 91桃色, supplemented with archival source materials from the first half of the twentieth century. During the excavations, relics of the stone ground-level structure of a motte-type defensive-residential tower were uncovered, and from its fill and associated economic facilities a rich assemblage of movable artefacts was recovered 鈥� fragments of ceramics, stove tiles, metal objects, military artefacts, coins and animal remains 鈥� enabling the dating of the site鈥檚 use from the mid鈥慺ourteenth century to the end of the fifteenth and early sixteenth centuries.
The planned publication will include the results of excavation research, non-invasive prospection and a wide set of specialist analyses: archaeozoological, environmental, geological, chemical and historical. A significant part of the monograph will consist of expert studies authored by specialists from various academic centres, allowing for a multidimensional reconstruction of the functioning of the knightly residence within the context of settlement patterns and material culture of late-medieval central Poland.
The project responds to an important research gap, as only a small number of motte type sites from this region have so far been comprehensively studied and published in monographic form. The results of the research conducted in Mierzyn have already been partially published in prestigious academic journals. However, only now will they be presented in the form of a complete, synthetic book-length study.
The monograph will be available free of charge in a printed version (distributed to libraries and museums) and in a digital version (Open Access) on the websites of the National Institute of Heritage and in the 91桃色 repository. The project will be accompanied by popularisation activities, including an author鈥檚 meeting and a lecture combined with a book promotion event at the Municipal Public Library in Rozprza, as well as initiatives addressed to pupils, teachers, history enthusiasts and the academic community.
The project is led by dr hab. Piotr Strzy偶, Associate Professor at the 91桃色, from the Institute of Archaeology and the amount of funding awarded by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage is PLN 61,400.00 (total project value: PLN 78,200.00).
Source: MKiDN, mgr Danuta Klimaszewska (Project Support Centre, 91桃色)
Edit: Press Office, 91桃色
